*Official* VB Series - Australia, India & Zimbabwe

[Slow Love™]

5/181, and a missed stumping from Patel...

It's tight, but Clarke and Bevan don't have that many to get...

I don't know that Yuvraj was faking his injury, he looked pretty hurt to me. I think Ponting got too worked up over it (he seemed to be yelling and gesturing for them to get him off the field), and it cost him his concentration.

Poor Martyn - he has to be REAL close to being dropped.

 

[Arrow]

Patel is a pathetic keeper.
How many Stumpings has he missed this summer?
3 or 4?

He probably cost india this match.

 

[Mister Wright]

5/181, and a missed stumping from Patel...

It's tight, but Clarke and Bevan don't have that many to get...

I don't know that Yuvraj was faking his injury, he looked pretty hurt to me. I think Ponting got too worked up over it (he seemed to be yelling and gesturing for them to get him off the field), and it cost him his concentration.

Poor Martyn - he has to be REAL close to being dropped.

News just in from America: Yuvraj has been nominated for an Oscar for best actor...come on, he's jumping all around the place.

 

[Slow Love™]

News just in from America: Yuvraj has been nominated for an Oscar for best actor...come on, he's jumping all around the place.

You really think he was faking? I guess it looked convincing to me, but I'd be really p***ed if it WAS a time-wasting strategy - particularly given how successful it was...

And Bevan's OUT - I hope we don't screw this up from here...

 

[Mister Wright]

Faking for sure.

If pressure is going to be put on Martyn's spot, then so must Bevan. He has been pathetic in this series. Has middled about 1 all series. There is no point having him in the team if he is going to bat at 7.

 

[Mister Wright]

Stupid shot from Clarke. He just hit a four in the over, there was no need for it. A single would have given him the strike for the next over. It's now up to Andy to bring it home for us.

 

[Slow Love™]

I don't think we can do it from here.

As for Bevan, yeah, he has been pretty out of sorts. But I'd probably give him a little more leeway - he should be further up the order, and I feel that Ponting constantly pushes him down the order if we're doing well, and as a result Bevan's never getting a chance to find his feet.

 

[Slow Love™]

SIX from Lee! I never saw that coming!

From zero to hero in one game??

 

[Mister Wright]

WoW! what a finish! That is three great games in a row. The team chasing had to win one sooner-or-later.

 

[Slow Love™]

And Australia wins - wow, that was against the run of play. Great hit from Lee. I can't work out if we stole this game or not - ten to twelve overs ago it should have been safe.

Ganguly would be really disappointed - I really thought he captained well, and psyched his players very effectively. And it's two games in a row that they've only lost 4 wickets in total, and Australia's been plunged deep into the tail.

 

[Arrow]

India must be pretty filthy,they had that won.
He was asking for it bowling a half volley outside off stump though so he got what he deserved.

 

[NikhilN]

1 ball!!! why was there a mis field!?and why did balaji let lee hit the six?????

 

[Gaijin-san]

I told you all to have faith in Lee! He was the best bowler and batted credibly too.

As for Clarke, I was thinking 'go for a single' as well. I think the idea was right but the execution was wrong. With the runs required to balls remaining ratio falling it's better to have a dash then finish the allotted overs still behind. At least he had (well placed) faith in the lower order.

Credit where it's due, but. Gilchrist was absolutely mercurial in his charge! I have no doubt without him Australia was going nowhere near the target.

And what can I say but "Lee's done it again".

 

[Bapu Rao Swami]

Very well played to Brett Lee, he has taken his revenge at the right time. Its was 3 balls and 7 runs needed, I knew Bichel could do it but Lee after all that beating he got earlier, I had doubts.

Very well played Lee and Gilly!!!


I agree Australia needs to look at the bowlers and the middle order. I believe the bowlers are more to blame, Bichel and Gillespie are playing below avg. I have seen them in song and when they're in motion they're unbeatable.

Lets hope your selector Trever Hohns and coach Buchannan spot the weaknesses correctly.

cheers,

once again very well played Brett Lee - the guy has got his revenge.

As for India, there is no shame in losing to the world champions, so I'm glad we got to see a good game.
:saint:

 

[Gaijin-san]

Many thanks to the Indian team. Very rarely are we privileged to watch a match with so much excitement and so much spirit from both sides. For it to happen in 84 overs is even better.

To the fans of both sides, win or lose (depending on your side of the fence), it was one hell of a match. Winning is sweet, but I can remember with 3 balls to go being resigned to losing. At the time, I was thinking 'holy crap this was one hell of a match'. Then Lee turned it around (the frown on my face).

Win or lose, it was a real good dogfight. Can I get a 'here, here'?

 

[V Reddy]

missed stumping from Patel...

Proved very costly . Clarke gone first ball would have put India on the driving seat. But it's good to see that it was Lee who won the match after the criticism he received.

 

[Pratters]

Proved very costly . Clarke gone first ball would have put India on the driving seat. But it's good to see that it was Lee who won the match after the criticism he received.

Patels thingy had to happen considering its become a routine he drops some thign every other match.

I too was happy for Lee coz he is a true talent and people have been criticising him just for the sake of it.

Also, I generally dont care who wins one day matches, but this one India deserved to lose I felt after the negative tacics of Ganguly around 21st over. It was hilarious though to see Yuvraj walk out slowly, Ponting bugged, Ponting out next ball and then Marto followed!

 

[marc71178]

yeah i agree on this BUT i can remember him batting @ number 3 alot for NSW domestically (i could be wrong here) and his domestic average is 58

Domestic Cricket is nowhere near as high quality or high pressured though.

 

[krkode]

*wakes up in the morning and looks at scores*


NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! :O

Oh well.

Kudos to Laxman and Yuvraj on another magnificent performance. I could go on for hours about how unfair D/L method is...but I won't.

*sigh*

 

[Linda]

So NOW everyones hailing Lee a hero... :rolleyes:
And you cant say you were surprised when he hit that six?! Its either a 6 or nothing when it comes to his batting...

I cant help but feel slightly depressed when it comes to Marto's form... I really hate seeing him like this. However, I dont think there is any more selector pressure on him now than there was before, its all public. (I am getting so much crap from friends and family...!)
But I've figured it out guys, he's waiting for the Perth match...

I too thought Yuvraj was faking, I mean come on, when he came back onto the feild he was back into position, and dived onto his "injured" hip. Ponting had a right to get angry, it was pretty stupid of India. He did lay into Harvey though, and I dont like him, so alls well I suppose, haha.

At least Gilly went out with a bang, he'll now have a well deserved break.

Sometimes you wonder why matches like that happen when it doesnt really matter. I really do think that the rest of these matches between Aus and India will be purely personal, and good practice for when it counts. Bring on the finals!!

Oh and HERE, HERE!